All of your friends are getting married, but you are still single; all of your friends are graduating and finding the perfect job, but you have no idea where you want to direct your studies.
We’ve all been there, trust me. Recently, my friends and I were discussing the challenges of getting older and being single while dealing with the growing desire to start a family. It’s hard to know the right balance between relationships, finishing school, and starting a career. Personally, being one of the last of my friends to finish school is tough. It sure feels lonely to stay at home studying while my friends are having a good time!
It’s easy to feel lonely when a close friend is enamoured with “the best man who ever lived” while you are struggling with your own singleness or going through a rocky time in a relationship. And it’s easy to feel downhearted when you are looking for a job, working for minimum wage, or trying to figure out which study program to pursue while your friends are all landing their dream jobs. It seems like everyone is celebrating and happy, but you are just trying to survive.
What do we do when we feel that our world is falling apart, or that the lives of everyone else around us are so much better than ours? How do we survive days when we feel completely alone and want to give up?
Even the prophets were not immune to seasons of depression and feeling isolated. In ancient Israel, the prophet Elijah struggled with depression and loneliness too. It came at a time when he could have been celebrating good news. His friend, Obadiah, had just told him about 100 faithful prophets living in Israel. And God had just worked a great miracle in his life, demonstrating to all that he was a mighty prophet.
But despite knowledge of other prophets in the land and his own stellar ministry (fire coming down from heaven, of all things!), Elijah is found crying out to God in desperation. He wants to die. "It is enough," he said. "Now, O LORD, take my life" (1 Kings 19:4). He declares to the LORD that he is the only prophet left in Israel.
The only one left?! What about Obadiah and the 100 other faithful prophets? The reality is that Elijah was not alone. The point is, Elijah felt isolated and depressed. And these feelings prevented him from seeing things clearly and celebrating the good things God had just done for him.
When we encounter moments of feeling depressed and isolated, taking a minute to get an overall perspective…Are we really alone?…Is everything really falling apart?…helps us realize that the struggle we are facing is limited to one area of our lives. We can also reflect on what else God is doing. While one aspect of our lives may seem devastating, there are always other areas where God’s hand of blessing is at work.
God also cares about our character and is always working on several levels at the same time. Often, the testing of our faith is a character-builder, intended to make us stronger, to challenge us to a deeper trust in God (1 Peter 1:6-9).
Is your faith being tested right now? Well, God has faith in you and believes you will make it through. Despite how we may feel, we are challenged to live holy lives (1 Peter 1:15,16), as people who obey the truth and love one another with pure hearts (1 Peter 1:22), even in the most lonely and desperate circumstances.
In Elijah’s moment of desperation, God met him. God spoke to him with a calm whisper and then sent him a friend, Elisha. God also reminded him that he was not alone. Seven thousand people in Israel remained faithful.
The God of Elijah is looking out for you and me, too. God has not brought us this far to hang us out to dry. But following God does not mean that life will be easy or that everything will work out according to what we think is ideal.
Above all, God is ALWAYS with us. It might be hard for us to feel God’s presence at times, but God identifies with our pain, hears our hearts’ cry and will always be with us in our hour of need.
During the tough seasons of life, we can put our focus on allowing God to develop our character, build our faith, and strengthen our trust. As God works in our lives, we can strive to live holy lives in truth and love, trust and obedience.
